I'd be willing to bet that your friends who had such extensive damage to their rig were going too fast for the conditions!
The Alaska Highway is a good two-lane road...as good as, and in some cases, better than many of the two-lane roads in the lower 48. There will always be frost heaves and construction areas, so you need to go slow through those areas. And when going through a construction area, it is good etiquette to slow down and move over to the right as far as you can when meeting oncoming traffic so that you don't throw up gravel to damage their windows...unfortunately, many people either don't know that they're supposed to do this, or don't care.
As long as you drive for the conditions and don't go expecting the Alaska Highway to be an Interstate where you can travel at 75 MPH, you should be fine. We've been to Alaska twice and never had a flat tire or any damage other than some rock dings in the windshield (from those inconsiderate drivers I mentioned above).
Hi: Alaskan here (or I was up until we sold our place in May of this year). The only route into Alaska that would have required 20 mph would be via the Top of the World Highway (called Taylor Highway on the AK side of the border). Instead of coming across the border on the Alaska Highway, one heads north on Highway 2 from Whitehorse to Dawson, crosses the Yukon River on the ferry, and then climbs up into the mountains to the Poker Creek border station. Once across the border, the road turns from pretty good to awful in very short order. The Taylor Highway is poorly maintained, and is narrow, washboarded, and potholed, particularly after a rain, when it can also have washouts. It's hands down the worst road in Alaska, and I've driven them all. If your friends took that road on purpose, they should have done their homework first. As mentioned, the Alaska Highway can have its problems with construction and frost heaves, but 20 mph for hours? Nah. The other road in Alaska that requires slow going is the Denali Highway, which is also very rough, but not nearly as narrow. Even so, you can drive it easily in half a day.
We're still in the process of returning from our 10th trip North. The Alaska Highway is in good shape. There's some construction zones here and there but otherwise it is easy travelling; we pull a 25' fifth wheel. No damage to anything yet again.
We often go off the highway and explore gravel roads and narrow windy goat trails ... the kind where we do average 20 mph.
And we just got off the Cassiar southbound and were surprised to see the last stretch of gravel road now sealcoated (hard surface). Yup ... now paved north of Dease Lake. The only dirt section was the descent and climb out of the Stikine River crossing; about 5 miles worth.
These people are all employed by the tourist industry and are making things up! All the roads in Alaska are horrible. There was a 40' Diesel Pusher that fell into a pothole and the traffic just used the roof for a bridge. 'Course they never saw the roof due to the mud, and the silly road crew just paved 'em over. Dust is so thick you need to change air filters every 100 miles. The frost heaves are so high a Geo Tracker got high-centered. The mosquitoes are so thick they cover the windshields and the roads and they are way slippery. You can't see the road after about 50 miles and the washers and wipers just make it worse. The rocks flying up from the road from oncoming traffic are so large they will shatter your windshield. And maximum speeds are so slow that an oxcart would get there faster. The pullouts and rest stops are littered with nails and you need at least 7 spares to go over 100 miles. My friend's uncle's cousin's BIL MIL made the trip and assures me these are the conditions.
RedRam wrote: Our friends have just told us that their friends have just came from back from Alaska and the roads were terrible. .
We play this game with the kids when we are sitting around the campfire we called it 7-up. ( don’t ask why the name) The way you play is one person whispers a phrase in the ear to the person sitting next to them. Then that person does the same to the person beside them and so on until it get back to the first person. It’s amazing how a simple phrase can change dramatically by just being told around a campfire!
Take the trip yourself on the “ALASKA” Hwy and find out why so many people make the trip up to Northern Canada & Alaska. Heck, some people make the trip multiple times and most ardent RV’s would take their rig on a road a second time if the first just about destroyed it would they?
Soup
2006, Komfort 261FS
2007 Sierra SLE, 2500 HD / 4x4 / Duramax with a 6 speed Allison Transmission
kvoiles wrote: The Taylor Highway is poorly maintained, and is narrow, washboarded, and potholed, particularly after a rain, when it can also have washouts. It's hands down the worst road in Alaska, and I've driven them all.
We took this route on our 2001 Alaska trip. The Top of the World Highway, from the Yukon River to the Yukon/Alaska border was in pretty bad shape at that time...we had to drive around 25 MPH over most of it.
The portion of the road from the Yukon/Alaska border to Chicken was mainly dirt/gravel and narrow, but driveable, although I would not have wanted to drive it during or after a rain.
However, the road from Chicken to the Alaska Highway at Tetlin Junciton was a good gravel road...better than a lot of the "paved" roads we'd driven! It's my understanding that most of this portion of the road has been paved since 2001.
Just remember, you do not have to travel the Top of the World Highway to get around Alaska. When we had the flat tire in Ohio in 2005 we decided that we did not want to chance the Top of the World highway since the blow out in Ohio had done considerable damage to our trailer. We just took the long way to Dawson City and back. It added one day to our travel schedule having to return to Whitehorse, but we avoided a road that was more difficult to travel. We still had a great time in Dawson City. This did not take away from our trip. We visited Chicken in 2008 traveling from Tok. Those who choose to travel the TOW highway and then complain about the roads in Alaska because of the conditions on that road had the choice not to make that drive.
Rough roads are like "beauty", in the eyes of the beholder. Some people have a lot of experience driving secondary roads and others have little or no experience with them. A gravel road to some, must look like a moon scape, to others it is not that different than the roads they learned to drive on many years ago.
The Top of the World is the same. I would guess I have driven it 8 or 10 times over the years. Some years it was well maintained and not a bit of a problem. Other years it was a wet summer, muddy and wash boarded and not recently graded. But I have never yet found it to be undrivable in my RVs. The rough sections are very few miles, so whats the big deal if a person has to drive 15 mph or 20 mph for an hour or so?
The fuel tankers, mining trucks, tour buses, etc. drive it all summer.
Some people will see the road as a part of the "adventure" and say it is a great drive, others will report it as the worst road they have ever driven. The truth of the matter is, from their individual perspective, both are telling the truth as they see it.
A person needs to evaluate their personal driving experience, in a larger vehicle, their tolerance to getting their rig dirty and are they willing/able to slow down to a speed appropriate to the road conditions. Then make a decision. This applies, IMHO, to making a trip to Alaska, not just the Top of the World highway. But it also applies to any of the gravel roads in the north country, the Elliott to Manley, the Steese to Circle, the Haul Road, the Denali Hwy, the Petersville Road, etc.
The more flexible a person's attitude, their driving experience, the more they will enjoy the back roads of northern Canada or Alaska.
joe b.
South Florida, Stuart
Formerly of Colorado and Alaska
Driving a Dodge/Cummins/Lance www.pajbcooper.com web site http://www.picturetrail.com/jbpacooper
Alaska 2004/2006/2009 - Colorado photos
"Without challenge, adventure is impossible".
We made our first RV trip to and from Alaska this summer and would do it again in a heart beat. The only road we took that we probably will not travel again was the Top of The World. It was very rough and we did have to hold speed to about 20 to 25 MPH. Unfortunately the weather was poor and so we couldn't even enjoy the scenery that day. As others have mentioned you have to watch for the frost heaves in some areas. Mainly between Distruction Bay, YT and Tok, AK and from Tok to Glen Allen. Aside from the TOTW we felt these were the worst stretches of road that required careful attention to the red flags that identified the problem patches of road where you must slow down. The Alaska highway is a great road and the adventure of driving it is not to be missed. It should be on every RVer's bucket list.
Just drove 93 here in Montana which is under construction at 10 mph-just as bad as roads in Alaska. TOW was a piece of cake-drove it up and back-will drive it next time!
2007 Newmar 42' Mid Engine w/Fatboy,ATVs-in Garage,Rubicon w/4" lift,MotorMetal whls,MickeyT Baja tires-Cherokee w/4"lift in tow, Hog Valley FL(a diamond in the rough) Alaska '09 Part2
Offline
Online
